


The Scion of Darkness

by eldritchbrainrot



Series: The Scion of Darkness [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Actual Antatogonist Asami, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Equalist Asami Sato, Hiroshi is a shittier father, The Lieutenant is Asami's real father figure, Yasuko gets a backstory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:15:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28538685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eldritchbrainrot/pseuds/eldritchbrainrot
Summary: What would things have looked like if Asami had been the villain she was originally intended to be? What if she infiltrated Team Avatar to get close to Korra?
Relationships: Amon/Lieutenant (Avatar), Asami/Original Character, Korra/Asami Sato
Series: The Scion of Darkness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160309
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	1. Welcome to Republic City

The United Republic of Nations was designed to be a safe haven where people from all four nations could live together in harmony. Thanks to the factories popping up one-by-one, it was most unlike the other nations’ homelands in its favouring of technological advancements over preserving tradition. This allowed new avenues for money to be made, and a poor kid from the Dragon Flats borough could revolutionize society. 

On the hill overlooking the large residence, four low-level members of the Agni Kai triad sat in the darkness. There they waited for one of their partners who had infiltrated the estate a month ago as a servant. His mission was to spend his time getting to know the schedules of the family and their servants and he had to make sure he didn’t reveal himself as a firebender. The Satos typically went to great lengths to ensure that they only employed nonbenders, claiming that they made up a large percent of the unemployed in Republic City. 

To prove themselves as competent members of the syndicate, they were sent by their boss to break in, steal as much as they could without getting caught, and then fence their prizes for millions of yuans. Of the five of them involved, Aren was by far the most competent. He was the leader for the mission, and if everything went according to his plans, he could work his way up to being Chagoh’s right hand man. Whatever happened next would be up to the spirits to decide. 

“What are you gonna buy with your share?” A voice asked from behind him. 

“I’m gonna get me one of them new Satomobiles,” Another voice answered the first.

“Ain’t that kinda...what’s the word...” The first voice trailed off, deep in thought. 

“Ironic,” A third voice popped up.

“Yeah,” The first voice continued. “Ain’t that kinda ironic? We’re robbing the guy, then you’re gonna go around and give him back the money?”

“You tell me when Cabbage Corp makes a roadster,” The second scoffed. “Last time I took a ride in one ‘a their hoopties, the wheels almost came off.”

“Might that have something to do with the fact that the RPD was hot on your tail?” the third countered.

“Yeah, but I never seen a wheel come off a Satomobile mid-chase.”

Aren combed his fingers through his dark hair, sighing audibly. He tried to tune them out, keeping his eyes focused on the sprawling expanse below them. The perfectly manicured lawns and sleek towers almost distracted him from the fact that Ikang, Dezeng, and Togek were some of the dumbest people he’d ever met. The only other competent person in this group was already inside the Sato Estate. Sekan had met up with Aren under cover of night twice before; once to give them a map of the estate he claimed was painstakingly accurate, and the second to give him information on where they could hit without being noticed. If it weren’t for him, Aren would have begged to be reassigned.

“What do you think, Aren?” Togek called, bringing his attention back to their idiotic argument. “Should we tell the boss to upgrade to a Satomobile for the triad car?”

“Don’t make me regret choosing you all,” Aren grunted, ignoring the asinine question. “Prove to me you’re more than just brute force.”

“What else do we need against a couple ‘a nonbenders?” Ikang scoffed, soliciting dark chuckles from the other two as he shot fire from his clenched fist.

“We’re not here to hurt anyone,” Aren said, turning back to level them with a glare. “We’re here to steal shit and go. Now stop bothering me before I miss the signal.”

“You mean that one?” Dezeng asked, nodding his head past him.

Aren turned to see a light in the distance flickering on and off towards the back of the grounds. The lights moved in the code he had gotten the triad to use and signaled that the coast was clear. The three behind him followed his descent quietly, keeping their satchels close to their bodies and staying hidden in the shadows of the trees. The guardhouse and point of entry into the main house were at the front, but Sekan had let them know that there was a secret entrance the servants used towards the back of the property. It was there against the circular back of the main house that they met up with him, still in his servant uniform. With a brief nod being their only acknowledgment of each other, Aren followed behind him.

They entered into a long and narrow hallway filled with shelving and storage. Initialed golden towels, small trophies, and strange looking plants littered the racks on the walls. None of the items looked particularly expensive or easily fenced, so they ignored it as they came to the end of the hallway.

“We have fifteen minutes,” Sekan whispered with a hand on the doorknob separating them from the biggest score of their lives. “I sent the other guard on duty with me to find the shirshu-spit darts Sato keeps in his workshop about a quick jog away from here. It won’t take her long to realize that there is no such thing.”

“Good to know,” Aren said in a low voice, turning to address them all. “Grab whatever looks the most expensive. Be picky - don’t carry more than you can see yourself running away with.”

“Stay off the second floor,” Sekan added. “That’s where the family lives and it’s far too risky to go up there. We stay on this floor and we meet back here in fifteen minutes.”

“And try not to move things around too much,” Aren continued. “Put things back where you found them. The longer it takes for them to realize things are missing, the better.”

When they all nodded their understanding, Sekan opened the door. Whatever Aren thought the Sato mansion could have looked like behind the gold plated threshold paled in comparison to the actual ritzy splendor before him. While the hallway they came in looked rather unassuming with its wooden floors and grey stone, it opened up to a different world; gilded walls held gold framed photos depicting scenes beyond his comprehension. Several columns of white held up the ceiling. The chandeliers going back in a row above the massive foyer they exited into seemed to be made of glittering diamonds. The tile flooring was so clean it reflected their bewildered expressions back up to them, even in the dim lighting. The stairs at the back of the foyer leading to the second floor looked as if they belonged on some sort of stage rather than in some rich man’s house. Several hallways with arched entrances ran endlessly down on either side of the room.

Aren pulled himself together just enough to give orders to his crew, recalling the map of the estate Sekan had given him. “Sekan, Togek, you check the bar and the sauna. Ikang, Dezeng, hit the parlor and the office. I’ve got the gym and the kitchen.”

The five of them separated. Aren shook his head and pulled himself out of his reverie. According to the map he’d studied, the gym and the kitchen were down the first hallway on the right. He made his way down, taking note of all the artwork of the family on the wall. Here was a picture of Sato and his family, another of Sato in front of his first working Satomobile, several of his wife Yasuko and their young child, and even more of his wife alone. Aren briefly found himself wondering if rich people had nothing better to do than to sit around all day posing and immortalizing themselves in photos. The gym was surprisingly small and underwhelming, especially in comparison to the experience that the foyer had been. The walls and flooring were both wood, with a large carpet covering most of the area. Much to Aren’s dismay, it looked like an average gym. The floorboards creaked gently under his weight as he walked around it, opening storage cabinets and trying not to move things around too much. There were no large trophies to be melted down, no heavy chrome plated weights like he’d seen in earthbender gyms - there wasn’t even a space for a flamethrower automaton. He scoffed, taking note of the various ropes, stirrups, and boxing gear present instead. Was this how what all nonbenders used to work out? 

The kitchen and adjoining dining room on the other side of the building brought back that opulence from the foyer; it bore several ovens, long granite counters and a dining table probably made of the wood from some rare tree only the rich knew about. Aren was tempted to rifle through the copious amounts of food he saw, but the glittering centerpiece of fruit on the dining table stopped him. Food wasn’t supposed to glisten like that. Upon taking a closer look he realized the assortment of oranges, mangoes, dragonfruit, and pears were all made of diamonds, down to the cornucopia that held them. A grin spread across his face and he gently lowered the food into his bag, hoping the Satos would be too busy to eat dinner together any time soon. He looked around the kitchen and searched through everything that wasn’t bolted down or a part of the fixtures, but his luck had run out.

He was the second to make it back to the secret exit they had come in through. From the inside, it looked as if it was a regular bookshelf and probably wouldn’t have figured out where their exit was if Sekan hadn’t left the disguised door open. Dezeng waved him over with a wide grin on his face. He tilted his bag, showing off the things he had picked out from Sato’s office and parlor. He had had far more luck than Aren if the golden opera glasses, bejeweled necklaces, and diamond studded letter opener cushioned by hundreds of yuans were any indication. Sekan came up next and he showed off expensive looking glasses from the bar and two bottles of champagne.

“If we pull this off, I can stay here as a servant and let you know when it’s safe to hit this place again,” he whispered excitedly. “I could smuggle some things from upstairs out through this secret passageway. You wouldn’t believe the kinds of things they have hidden away.” With each thing Sekan rattled off, Aren mirrored his excitement. They could shake up the triad game with the money they’d make here. All it would take was a couple hits like this to run off without a hitch.

With their time starting to run out, Aren rubbed the back of his neck impatiently. The other two weren’t back yet, and he was debating leaving regardless and letting them figure their own way back to the hideout. He tapped his foot, urging them on silently. When Ikang and Togek finally emerged from opposite ends of the house, however, two things happened at once. 

On the right side, the servant that likely had been on duty with Sekan opened another secret door off the side of the foyer carrying a handful of shirshu-spit darts. On the opposite end, a finely dressed dark-haired woman came in through the front entrance with an empty glass in hand.

Everything was still for a moment as they all took stock of each other and Aren swore. Overcoming her shock, the servant immediately jumped into action with perpendicular fists raised in a familiar stance.

“They’re chi-blockers!” Dezeng yelled.

“Wait!” Both Aren and Sekan tried to call out. Ikeng and Togek both drew up massive flames that quickly spread around the foyer within seconds, engulfing the room. Aren recognized the dark haired woman, the same one that he had seen earlier in the photos along the hallway. The woman kept herself so private that Aren hadn’t even known what she looked like until then. Gentle to a fault, if the interviews Sato gave were any indication, Sato’s wife was no chi-blocker. 

Instincts kicking in, Aren turned and ran, ignoring the screams behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never really written fanfiction before and I've just started reading it late last year. But I am an author so I really wanted to try my hand at an Equalist!Asami fic and try out that enemies-to-lovers trope. 
> 
> At present, I plan for each chapter to more or less correspond with the episodes.


	2. A Leaf in the Wind

Asami had always found it difficult to put down a project once she took up with it. Everyone had their vices - hers just happened to be seeing things through to its end. The more work it took to figure something out, the better. It was part of why she became an engineer; the profession was centred around figuring out how every single piece worked cohesively to make up the whole. 

The other part was her father. He didn’t put any pressure on her to follow in his footsteps, but invention and progress were the first things that helped them reconnect as father and daughter after being lost adrift from each other. No one would ever know, but her mother was the brains behind the design of Satomobiles. While Hiroshi cared about functionality, and Yasuko cared about form and adaptability. 

“Dear,” Yasuko had reprimanded Hiroshi once in that gentle voice she had that didn’t allow people to realize they were, in fact, being reprimanded. “You’ll want the annealed glass as a base, and then you can put the tempered layer on top of it.”

“Heat strengthened glass will show how tough our satomobiles are,” Hiroshi had countered, shaking his head. “Cabbage Corp layers their glass, but if we only use one we’ll project strength.”

“Cabbage Corp is layering laminated glass on top of more laminated glass,” Yasuko had scoffed. “They obviously don’t have the advantage you do.”

“Oh?” Hiroshi had asked, arching a thick eyebrow as a playful tone came into his voice. “And what advantage do I have?”

Yasuko had gestured to the five-year-old Asami on her lap, who grinned at being included. “Two genius women who know more than the genius inventor behind the name.”

As she grew older and was trusted with more responsibility, Asami found herself leaning more towards adaptability in her inventions. She was nothing if not Yasuko Sato’s daughter.

One would think that after twelve years, the pain would subside. But neither Asami nor her father had known rest since Yasuko was taken from them. She had to stay away from mirrors for some time, the years between her tenth and twelfth birthday ones in which she looked like the spitting image of her mother. Her father had lost himself for a while, going through the motions of life and sneaking off at night to undisclosed locations. Asami had originally assumed he was out drinking or worse. He barely spoke to Asami for anything more than a progress report on her self-defense classes. Asami couldn’t fault him and likewise threw herself into her training, and eventually, her career. She found very early on that if she focused on something intensely enough, there would be no room for pain in her heart. Consequently, she cultivated a very logical, one-track mind and taught herself to block out the pain whenever it reared its ugly head. And it still did from time to time. In her most desperate hours, she found herself placing the blame on the servants in charge that night, on her father, even her mother. Sometimes she wondered if things would have somehow been different if she had been there - would the thugs have hesitated if a six year old girl had thrown herself in front of her mother? 

Eventually, she placed the blame where it was rightly deserved: on benders.

Over the years, Asami had seen the rise of crime perpetrated by benders until the Dragon Flats borough her father had grown up in was no longer a safe place to go. Gone were the occasional excursions into the sections of Republic City with the best braised turtle-duck made by the family Hiroshi had known since he was a child. Never again would she be able to deer-wolf down a sweet egg custard tart without being reminded that the dessert shop that made it with perfect flakes of cinnamon was burned down by some triad. Benders not only took her mother from her and nearly stole her father as well, they had managed to sully whole memories.

Six years ago, she had discovered where her father had been running off to in secret. Using the skills she learned in the classes he paid for, Asami stuck to the shadows and followed her father to an unassuming building, both grateful and surprised that he didn’t need to use a satomobile to get to his destination. Once the last attendee slipped inside the building, she had scoured it for some sort of opening through which she could see the goings on. The windows were covered with tape, the door manned by someone that attendees had to give a secret password to. At the back of the building there had been a busted window pane that let her listen in if she strained her ears just hard enough, though she couldn’t see anything. It was there that she learned that right under her nose in the heart of Republic City, a revolution had been taking form. As it turned out, there were plenty of people who had fallen prey to benders. Others like herself and her father who had lost loved ones and businesses to the triads that ran wild, the animals dangerous and untamed. 

When the meeting was over, she met her father by the doors.He had had a whole speech prepared to explain himself, and she waited politely for him to finish before speaking. She didn’t recoil in disgust like he had apparently feared. Instead, Asami had wanted in. How else was she going to put her chi blocking skills to the test? She could continue the legacy of her mother with the things she invented, but a deeper part of her wanted more than that. The band of disgruntled nonbenders did little more than thwart triad plans here and there, but that was still something. 

At first, Hiroshi didn’t want her to have any part in it. He had rattled off excuses: she was too young, she was all he had left of their family, she wasn’t ready. She didn’t stop asking him, and eventually got her wish. She was allowed into their ranks around the same time a strange newcomer arrived: a charismatic yet unsettling masked man who brought them from a barely organized group into an actual movement that worked above ground in a short matter of weeks. He called himself Amon and named the movement the Equalists. Through his changes he brought ranks, uniformity, and a cohesive goal for people to get behind. It didn’t take long before their bolder members set up in public places rallying others to their cause. He had plans that her father believed in, plans that had an abrupt change with the arrival of the Avatar.

Asami hadn’t seen her yet, but she’d heard her announcement over the radio. The Avatar was new to Republic City and sounded far too full of optimism. A small part of Asami wanted to have faith in her. After all, the Avatar was supposed to represent benders and normal people both. But she was still a bender, and they were all the same. Insufferable with control over only one element, someone who had the power to manipulate all four surely would have an ego the size of Yue Bay. 

Asami leaned back in her seat and dropped the caliper she was using to take measurements with. She had gotten distracted and had written down the length of the metal plate centred on her workspace about five times in a row and not at all in its proper place. She combed her fingers through her thick hair and let out a sigh, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. It wasn’t like her to get distracted at work. She wasn’t typically able to think of anything aside from the project at hand; the swaths of copper, brass, and leather weren’t going to assemble themselves into a functioning glove, after all.

However, today wasn’t a typical day.

Asami wrought her hands nervously and pushed herself up from her chair. She pulled out the drawer to her workspace and unceremoniously swept her project into it. She was no good when this nervous and wanted to present her latest invention properly, which meant she couldn’t allow her nerves to mess up the wiring. The rest of the factory was hard at work on parts and pieces of satomobiles, the cacophony of buzzing electric tools as deafeningly loud as ever. She spent so much time here that even when she wasn’t here there was still a faint hum in her ears. 

It was here that she was supposed to meet Amon’s lieutenant who had a mission for her. It was her first real assignment, and even if it wouldn’t be anything of significance on its own it still brought excitement. He had some big theatrical plan that he claimed would change the course of how nonbenders were treated, though he hadn’t told any of them what it was yet. That’s how it had been ever since he first arrived; he told certain people certain parts of his plans, and only once the concepts were executed did he ever explain what they had actually done. He would have one team do something as small as fake a fight in order to delay a shipment here and there, another team get a job at a restaurant and get an order wrong, and be seen talking to someone, and an up-and-coming triad would somehow implode a day later.

He was as much of a genius as her father was, except his strength lay in understanding the way benders thought and acted. Together, they would make the United Republic a better and safer place for benders. Hopefully soon, no one would have to suffer the same way she and her father had suffered all these years.

She finally saw Amon’s right hand man, incredibly noticeable by his mustache, casually ambling towards her from the open face of the warehouse. He stopped to talk to several people as he passed and slowly made his way over to her at the back of the building.

“Hey, kid,” he said with a grin, taking her hand in his in greeting when he approached. 

“I’m eighteen, Zhen” Asami corrected him, pocketing her hands and the paper he had slipped her. “I haven’t been a kid for a while.”

“You were twelve when we met,” Zhen told her with a shrug of his shoulders. “You’ll still be that twelve year old even when you’re old and grey.”

“Whatever you say, grandpa,” Asami grinned. 

“You wound me, Sato,” Zhen’s face faltered, as if he hadn’t considered that she could turn the tables on him. “Is your dad around?”

She nodded her head to the office on the second level, where the silhouette of her father and some businessman were locked in what seemed like a heated argument. Hiroshi’s hands flew wildly, and the person he was arguing with kept shaking their head.

“Ah, I’ll bother him some other time,” Zhen sighed. Hiroshi had an image to maintain as an upstanding businessman and wasn’t too fond of having the Equalists in his factories. Amon considered him an integral part of the movement, and no newcomers even knew the Satos were Equalists, and keeping that secret underwraps was of the utmost importance. Zhen’s identifiable mustache couldn’t be seen near Hiroshi by someone who likely sought every opportunity to take down Future Industries. Her father had yelled at him on multiple occasions to either shave or keep away from his business, and for some reason, Zhen refused to shave.

“See you tonight?” Zhen asked with his voice lowered, as if he could possibly be overheard. 

Asami nodded her head, a teasing grin spreading across her face. “I’m sure you’ll know where the meeting spot is before the rest of us, won’t you?”

Zhen rolled his eyes as he took his leave, but he didn’t exactly deny the accusation hidden within Asami’s words. 

Once he was out of sight, she made her own retreat, eager to open the paper Zhen had given her and see Amon’s instructions. Did he want her to sneak around and follow some shady character? Maybe he wanted her to get to know the Avatar? She made her way to the warehouse’s bathroom and locked herself into one of the stalls before she quickly pulled out the folded paper. Her eyes fell over the words written there, and a disappointed sigh escaped her lips.

\-----------

The pro-bending arena was packed. Asami had never been to a match, though not for a lack of curiosity. Her father had pretty vocally forbidden her from attending a match, citing the arena as a cesspool. To him, the sport was simply another way benders flaunted their magic in the faces of the normal remainder of society, creating a professional sport that nonbenders had no opportunity to participate in. Despite herself, Asami’s radio was tuned more often than not to Shiro Shinobi’s voice dramatizing the plays. From how he described them, they were sights to behold, and boy had she wanted to behold them. It also would be nice to get to see benders beating each other up for a change instead of harassing people who couldn’t yet defend themselves. 

The arena was loud in the same way the warehouse had been loud, the crowd buzzing with excitement rather than electrical tools. Asami made her way to an empty spot in the middle, her position giving her the advantage of looking down into the ring without having her line of sight blocked by excitedly bobbing heads in front of her. On either side of the ring was the open stage in which the players got ready before getting out to play. There’s a handful of people - no, benders - talking amongst themselves, getting ready for their game.

More and more audience members filtered their way past Asami, filling up the remaining seats pretty quickly. She fixed a scowl on her face, hoping the look was off putting enough that no one would try to sit too close to her or strike up a conversation. Her assignment was to watch the pro benders and analyze their moves and report back to Amon and Nimong - their top chi blocking teacher - at the end of the night. She knew she should feel grateful at being included at all. Plenty of others went without inclusion, being assigned recruitment duty for weeks on end. Newcomers all had to go through a month long chi blocking training program, though the best students did more training than reconnaissance. Asami was lucky that she had been chi blocking most of her life, as it gave her more opportunities to be out in the field. Even if she was simply assigned to watch benders beat each other up.

The match began, and Asami pulled out a small notepad to write on. She leaned forward in her seat, her eyes focusing on the grey clad Platypus Bears and the multi colored uniforms of the Fire Ferrets. The game goes painfully bad, and Asami found herself wondering if she would need to write any notes at all. Going back to Amon empty handed was never a good idea, but surely he could overlook this considering how little of an effort the Fire Ferrets seemed to be putting in. Their waterbender girl looked new to the game, Shiro Shinobi confirming as much when he remarks on how the Platypus Bears go after her. 

And then the waterbender girl earthbent.

Asami almost shot to her feet as half the crowd around her did, the game coming to a grinding halt. What was she doing here? Since when did the Avatar get involved in professional sports? Surely they wouldn’t allow her to compete, would they? To Asami’s surprise, they choose to let the Avatar stay with the stipulation that she can only use waterbending for the remainder of the match. Asami settled back into her seat, pen to paper, eager to watch the Avatar in action. She couldn’t tell much about the Avatar’s physicality from where she sat and the uniform looked far too big on her. And when the game resumed, the Avatar was almost immediately knocked into the water. Asami found herself surprisingly disappointed at the supposed best benders had to offer.

Just when it looked like it was all over, the Avatar began to move differently. Instead of taking up any specific stances used by the other benders, the girl swiftly moves around the elements flying towards her with barely any effort. She dodges and weaves as if they’re nothing more than nuisances moving past her. Asami tilted her head as she began to write for the first time. 

\-----------

“There’s only one way I can really explain it,” Asami reported later that night. Amon’s inner circle were all gathered in someone’s attic, the handful of them hanging on Asami’s recollection of the quick match. “She moved how I would imagine an airbender would move.”

For as quick as the game had been, Asami took diligent notes, going so far as to draw out the steps the Avatar and her teammates took that were of interest to her. She took note of all the ways the Platypus Bears left themselves with an opening and how the Fire Ferrets made use of the opening.

“Interesting,” Zhen replied, leaning back in his seat. “An airbender would rather evade than attack head on. We could use that.”

Asami’s brow furrowed in confusion. What exactly could they use that information for? All of the world’s airbenders were collected on a singular island, and most of them weren’t even teenagers yet. Was Amon expecting the children to leave their comfortable home on Air Temple Island and start harassing nonbenders all the way in Republic City?

“It’s not as if they’re infallible,” Nimong spoke up from where she sat, bright hazel eyes sparkling as she absently played with her dark hair. “Most of them have never encountered a chi blocker. They don’t consider us threats so they don’t know how to defend themselves against us. Equalist or not, every nonbender should know how to chi block.”

“I hope you see now why I despise that so-called sport,” Hiroshi started, shaking his head. “Yet another example of how those benders try to elevate themselves above the rest of us. They seek to make themselves celebrities for their barbarism.” 

Asami hadn’t seen enough of the match to agree with her father. There wasn’t a match after the one the Avatar had played in, the entire thing taking less than a half hour to come to completion. She wondered if the others in the audience had felt robbed - the tickets were far too expensive for how little entertainment was provided in return.

Amon studied the notes Asami had taken the longest out of any of them in the room, keeping quiet while the others spoke. He stood at the back of the room, bent over Asami’s papers. Though he made no sound when he straightened up, the entire room went quiet. He crossed the room to Asami’s side, the sound of his boots against the wood floor echoing with each step.

Amon lowered his gaze, fixed his blue eyes on Asami and asked, “How’s your chi blocking?”


	3. The Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s my headcanon that not only did Hiroshi take Yasuko’s name because he was so in love with her, but Yasuko’s father was the “wealthy businessman” Hiroshi convinced to invest in his startup.

_“She’s four years old,” Yasuko said, shaking her head. “A child shouldn’t have to worry about this.”_

_“If we start her young, she won’t have to be worried when she’s older,” Hiroshi countered._

_While their toddler wandered around her playroom floor searching for the perfect toy for her setup, the Satos watched from the bench at the back of the room. Yasuko’s brow had been furrowed for the entire conversation, replaced only by small smiles whenever Asami glanced their way._

_“If she’s anything like either of us,” her husband continued, “she’ll have a mind for engineering soon enough. You know how consumed we both can get when it comes to work. If we start her young, she won’t have to do that dance we did, trying to fit in self defense lessons in between runs to the warehouses.”_

_“We don’t have to stay in Republic City,” Yasuko suggested. “We could have a home back in the Earth Kingdom. There’s hardly any crime where I’m from, and there definitely aren’t any triads. My family loves you.”_

_“And I would love nothing more than that, but there’s no industry out there,” Hiroshi said with a sigh, combing his fingers through his dark hair. “I would lose so much time running back and forth between here and there.”_

_Asami stumbled her way over to them with her bright gap-toothed smile and a stuffed turtle-duck clutched in a death grip in her little hand. She offered the toy out to Yasuko, whose heart swelled at the sight before her. Yasuko picked her daughter up into her arms and squeezed her close, burying her face in her loose curls as she collapsed into a fit of giggles. The idea of her daughter growing up in a world in which she needed to learn self defense weighed down on her. She knew her husband was right, that skills were much easier to master if they were learned young._

_“Let’s wait until she’s at least seven,” Yasuko said finally. She let Asami go, and the child quickly scampered up into her father’s lap to monopolize on the loving mood her parents were in. “She doesn’t need to grow up so soon.”_

\------------

One of the most important elements to chi blocking was one’s confidence. No one ever really talked about that, but once Asami figured it out she became that much more formidable. Her expertise was second only to Nimong, their resident chi blocking teacher. It wouldn’t take much for a bender to deliver a deadly strike, so hitting them first was crucial. Precision and confidence were necessary to strike fast and hard; one had to be sure about everything from one’s footing to the positioning of one’s knuckles or fingers when striking. If you gave a bender any small opening, they would take it. Asami had spent many sleepless nights pushing herself to become faster and more confident with her strikes, and it paid off.

So, naturally, when Amon asked her how her chi-blocking was, she told him the truth.

Most of the Equalist network was underground, connected by repurposed tunnels triads used to use before they got bold enough to go above ground with their businesses. All their old operating stations were walled off. With her father’s added improvements, the tunnels became a labyrinth only an Equalist could navigate. If anyone else were to try, they would be caught up with dead ends and spring-loaded traps.

When they didn’t have time to set up a proper meeting at a safehouse, Amon liked to use one of the spare rooms the tunnels connected to. It was the back room of some old storehouse that had been out of commission for decades. Thick blankets covered the walls and kept them completely soundproof in the event that some scoundrels or teenagers looking for a place to hook up ever stumbled into the abandoned building. It was here that Asami met with Amon, Nimong, Zhen, and a handful of others.

Amon faced a large map pinned against one of the walls, his back to those gathered before him. Zhen stood at his side ever faithfully and gave Asami the faintest of nods when she entered. Two more people came in after she did, and they waited in silence for their leader to speak.

“Thanks to the Avatar’s arrival in the city, the revelation is now upon us,” he began cryptically. “I am entrusting you to play a crucial role in what will occur next.”

Amon turned to face them, his eyes a piercing blue as he raised a hand to a specific point on the map. “Here is the hideout for the Triple Threats. As our most premier chi-blockers, you’ll be tasked with getting some important guests for tomorrow night’s event.”

Asami straightened up excitedly. Was she hearing him properly? Was she finally getting to go on a real mission? Not reconnaissance, not intel, not a distraction, but she would actually get to be a part of the action? Her thoughts briefly flashed to her father - did he know she’d be going out? Her eyes flashed to meet Zhen’s, who afforded her a subtle wink.

“The triads are a showcase of everything that’s wrong with benders,” Amon continued. “They’ve only ever used their so-called ‘gifts’ to hurt others. As such, we are going to make an example out of them. Nimong will be the point person on this mission. Round them up and bring as many as you can back here. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Nimong spoke up. She joined Amon at the front, pointing to three of those gathered in the room. “I want you three to get our top students and set up a rotating watch. We’ll need to chi block these benders every half hour until Amon is ready for them tomorrow night. The rest of you, gear up.”

While they rushed out to do Nimong’s bidding, Asami saw the older woman briefly turn to Amon, as if seeking his approval. When the masked man tilted his head in a nod, Nimong let out a visible sigh of relief.

The “gymnasium” - as it was so politely dubbed - where they practiced chi blocking normally took some time to get to when navigating from the tunnels. But everyone seemed to be feeling as excited as Asami was about this mission, because they made it to the gymnasium’s locker room in record time. Street clothes were replaced by that olive bodysuit and red scarf/pockets eyesore Asami hated, their gas masks adorned with the same red dot as that of their leader’s own.  


“I can’t wait to kick some bender ass,” One of them, Sihal, said with a grin. “I know Nimong says practice makes perfect and all but that means nothing if we never get to actually go up against any benders.”

“The only ass that’ll be kicked is yours if you keep leaving your left side open,” Asami told them as she put her hair up. The thought of cutting her hair passed her mind again. Their gas masks weren’t designed to be comfortable with as much hair as she had. Why did she keep it so long in the first place? “And if you only go for the same two spots on the body.”

Sihal’s held up their hands and smirked. “I still obviously get results, or I wouldn’t be on this mission, would I?”

“Maybe they needed a pity addition,” someone else spoke up, drawing laughter from the others.

“Hey! I’ll take you right here and now, Xuo!” Sihal complained.

“Save your energy,” Nimong’s harsh voice rang out as she strode in with her mask under her arm, the locker room door swinging shut behind her. “None of you have fought benders before, so I need you focused.”

Aside from being relatively the same height as Asami, their chi blocking teacher wasn’t physically imposing. Her shoulder-length red hair framed a face that held deceptively kind eyes, seas of fire that were always calculating. No matter how big someone was, no matter how skilled, she could find a fatal flaw within the first few seconds of meeting them. As she walked into the middle of their small group, all eyes fell on her.

“Here’s the plan.” She pointed to each of them as she spoke. “The two of you, Sihal and Xuo, will break the two windows at the back and throw in smoke bombs. Make as much noise as possible to draw them to the back. There’s a truck already parked in the alleyway with its keys under the driver’s side tire. Pull up out front for retrieval. The rest of us will come in through the front and give them hell. Intel says there will be five of them there tonight, one for each of the rest of us. RCPD will already be dealing with a different situation uptown, so they’re not going to be bothering us. Got it?”

They all asserted that they did.

“Aside from _all_ of your equipment,” Nimong looked pointedly at Xuo, who had a penchant for forgetting his gloves, “get the usual. Ropes, gags, smoke bombs, bolas.”

They all grabbed each item as they were mentioned, carefully settling them into the pockets at their sides. Nimong walked up and down the main aisles of the locker room, checking them over as if she were a military officer readying her soldiers. When everything was to her liking, she put her gas mask on and the rest of them did the same.

“Comms check,” Asami said, speaking into the small mouthpiece on the inside of her mask as she pulled the goggles over her eyes.

“Loud and clear,” they replied, one by one.

Their bikes were waiting for them outside of the small compound. A chorus of small _click_ ing sounds rose up as they switched their goggles to night vision. With Nimong taking point, they rode on in a tight formation to the seedy Cho Ha district the Triple Threats claimed as their territory. They got off their bikes in the alley at the end of the block they needed so the sound of revving engines wouldn’t set the benders off. Of the rundown and decrepit buildings Asami could see, only one of them had their lights on - their target. Asami knew that the lack of lights didn’t mean no one was in the buildings, as did Nimong. She had them climb the back of a building, and the eight of them leapt from rooftop to rooftop under cover of darkness until they were a building away from the triads.

“Drive team,” Nimong’s voice crackled into Asami’s mask. “Take your mark.”

“Copy,” Sihal and Xuo replied, then disappeared from the rooftop.

No lights flashed on. No doors slammed. Nothing gave the indication that two of them had been spotted dropping into the alleyway.

“Come in, drive team,” Nimong’s voice sounded again. “Are you ready?”

“Affirmative,” Sihal’s voice came back.

“Strike team,” Nimong called. “Let’s get into position.”

Nimong directed the others to the front of the building. There were no windows at the front, nothing that signified that this was a hideout that Asami could decipher. She had expected them to be sloppy, to have some sort of marking that stood out or a panel of wood that was different color than the others. But she could hear loud voices on the inside of the building discussing some plan through the doors. Whoever had gotten this intel had done some serious surveillance.

“Strike team, night vision off until retrieval,” Nimong said. “Drive team, whenever you’re ready.”

Asami took a deep breath as she turned her night vision off. Seconds later, the world exploded with the sound of crashing glass and what could only be several large trash cans being hit against each other. After a second, Nimong kicked the door open and they sprung into action. The five benders inside were all doubled over, coughing from the thick, green smoke. They had trained with each other often enough to understand each other’s movements; despite not discussing it beforehand, none of them went after the same man.

With a quick flip, Asami landed behind someone in green and delivered several quick punches in rapid succession to his arms and legs. He fell against the wall behind him with a yell. She spun around to avoid his flailing and caught a glimpse of his face as she immobilized the left side of his body. She would have faltered if she recognized the face before she reached his other side.

What the hell was the earthbender from the Fire Ferrets doing here?

It was almost as if an illusion shattered in her mind. She hadn’t exactly seen him up close and personal, but she had seen him on posters enough to recognize his face. Pro benders were, whether rightfully deserved or not, considered celebrities. They had adoring fans, won tons of yuans from their games, and generally had a pretty image to maintain. Was it possible that they were also criminals?

“Drive team,” Nimong’s voice, slightly out of breath, sounded inside Asami’s mask. “Come around front now.”

“Copy,” Xuo’s voice replied, followed up by the sound of a truck engine turning over.

The strike team tied their targets up and gagged them, ignoring the threats most of them flung. The Fire Ferret boy burst into tears and made no attempts to wriggle free from his bindings, unlike his companions. Nevertheless, Asami followed the other Equalists and dragged him out the front and down to the end of the street where their bikes were. The truck was waiting for them with its back open. Either Sihal or Xuo pulled each man into the truck.

“Good job, teams,” Nimong commended them. “Let’s get these special guests back to base.”

As their engines came to life, doors behind them opened. Glancing back, Nimong let out a string of expletives Asami had never heard the normally even-tempered woman say with such ferocity. When Asami looked back, she was tempted to repeat Nimong’s outburst, as most of her comrades did.

The Avatar was there.

And so was the other Fire Ferret, the tall firebender. Whose brother they just had tied up.

When they started running towards them, both Nimong and Asami had the same idea while the truck and the other bikes took off. They drew smoke bombs from their pockets and tossed them at the pair, enshrouding them in smoke. She and Nimong took off, pushing their bikes as fast as they could possibly go. They caught up to the others in no time, but were far from being safe.

“We gotta lose them!” Asami yelled over the roar of their engines being pushed to top speeds.

Whoever was driving took several turns, but that barely helped. In her side mirror, Asami could see the Avatar and the firebender gaining behind them atop some huge monstrosity of a polar bear dog.

And then the firebender shot fire at her.

Instead of panic settling in, she felt a strange sense of calm instead, her senses sharpened by the danger. She leaned to the right to avoid the blast, then to the left to avoid his next. She felt the earth rumble beneath her wheels and fought off the reflex to clench her body tightly. Instead, she let herself loosen up as she rode the ramp the Avatar made for her and landed none the worse for wear after a brief moment of being airborne.

“Sato!” Nimong’s voice yelled over the comms. She slowed down a little to be just behind Asami. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll figure that out later,” Asami replied coolly. “But we need to find a way to shake these guys.”

Whoever was at the wheel led them into a wide open space, and Nimong seized the opportunity.

“The rest of you keep going,” she called. “Asami and I will handle them.”

The two of them broke away from the pack. As she spun around sharply, Asami pulled a bola from her pocket and lobbed it at the animal. The bola wrapped around its paws and it stumbled, sending its riders flying.

Nimong jumped from her bike and flipped closer to the fallen pair, Asami following at her heels and landing in front of the Avatar. They leapt into action. The problem with benders, Asami knew, was that their bending was focused on long range combat. They never expected that someone could get close enough to hurt them and their bending was only focused on keeping an assailant away from them. She ignored the fact that she was about to go toe-to-toe with the Avatar - she was just another bender.

A quick flip over a blast of fire and she was face to face with the girl. Asami threw a punch which was promptly blocked and ducked as the Avatar’s hand shot forward with a burst of flame. Asami used her momentum to hit the Avatar between the shoulder blades, but the girl threw her shoulder and raised her hand again. Asami shoved the outstretched arm to force her backwards. The Avatar flipped and scissor kicked down a flaming foot which was easily dodged. The Avatar kicked into the air and Asami countered with a kick of her own and forced her off balance. Asami saw an opening and took it, delivering quick strikes to the energy centers up the Avatar’s firm torso and muscular arm.

As Asami gave in to instinct, it felt as if they were caught in a dance. The entire world had been reduced to her and the Avatar. Each of them knew their moves and executed them perfectly, but they were both trying to lead.

Only one of them could come out on top.

The Avatar took a moment to recover but did so quickly, throwing a fist of fire and trying to sweep Asami’s leg out from under with her own enflamed leg. The repeated flames sent her farther and farther away from the Avatar, which would give her the upper hand - and Asami couldn’t have that. She threw her hands back and leaned in as she ran and dodged the near relentless onslaught of fire. Despite the Avatar’s best efforts, Asami got in close and brought her knuckles against her legs and up her arm. Filled with adrenaline, she drop-kicked the Avatar and sent her flying, landing next to the firebender Nimong had just gotten done with.

“You think we should bring Amon back some extra special guests?” Asami asked Nimong, out-of-breath. The two of them swung their bolas, approaching the two benders.

As far as missions went, Asami didn’t expect that she would best the Avatar on her very first field mission.

But before they could capture their prey, the huge animal the Avatar and the firebender had been riding jumped forward with a nearly deafening roar, followed by a much smaller roar by its red ferret friend.

“We got what we came here for,” Nimong said as the two of them glanced at each other.

They made for their bikes and threw smoke bombs back at the immobilized pair for good measure.

Nimong and Asami kept their excursion to themselves when they returned. The team they had gone out with waited for them at the entrance to their hideout, knowing better than to end a mission without their leader. After the truck was parked, the five men in the back of the truck were freshly chi blocked, blindfolded, and had earplugs for good measure.

“Beautiful mission, everyone,” Nimong said with a tired sigh. “Let’s get these assholes to Amon.”


	4. The Voice in the Night

Any doubts those among the Equalist ranks may have had about Amon all likely disappeared after the Revelation. Those officers, like Zhen, who got to witness the events recalled them at the meeting the next morning. They spoke on how it felt to be a part of the crowd when he performed his miracle, on the evacuation afterwards. Those who were hearing the night retold, like Asami and her father, were hanging on the edge of their seats, drinking in every word. 

She wished she had been there. She wished she could have seen the look on the faces of the benders who got their magic taken away from them, when they realized that they would be normal like the rest of them; she would have relished it. Ever since Amon had first taken control and made their aimless group into a real movement, he had been working towards some goal - this goal, it would seem. The arrival of the Avatar only made him speed things up, but it would have been worth the wait. They had a true advantage now, and their name would strike fear into the hearts of benders and hope for the oppressed.

Amon allowed them to speak about the Revelation for a bit before he took the reins back. Someone Asami had never seen before stood at his side, nervous eyes betraying the false confidence her straight-backed stance was portraying. 

“Our informant here comes bearing some interesting news,” he said.

“The Republic Council has voted,” The woman at his side began as she took a step forward. “They are creating a task force, the sole mission of which is to hunt down Amon.”

Their small group exploded into an uproar at the news. Hiroshi shot up so quickly that his chair flew backwards. Only Asami stayed in her seat, her eyes meeting Amon’s behind his mask. The council’s actions didn’t surprise her in the least, and it didn’t seem to surprise Amon, either. A move that aggressive made sense coming from a council full of benders, especially once they found out that they didn’t have all the power. They wanted to crush the hope that the Equalists were spreading because that was all they knew how to do.

“What do we know about the task force?” Zhen yelled. “What are our plans to stop them?”

“Worry not, my loyal followers,” Amon calmed them, his hands behind his back. “The bending elite of this city have only made it plainly obvious that they will stop at nothing to prevent our revolution. Their actions will work in our favour.”

“Well, do we know who is on that task force?” Hiroshi spoke up. Asami looked up at her father. “Do they have plans to recruit the Avatar to their cause?”

“Of that I am certain. The Avatar was in attendance at the rally and is the perfect messenger to warn benders of the power I possess. I have no doubts that she’s being pressured to join their ranks.” Amon replied.

“Do we have any informants we trust to get to her?” Nimong asked. “Someone to get close to her and get as much information as we can?”

A lightbulb went off in Asami’s head.

“I’ll do it,” she said, rising to her feet with the others who turned to look at her when she spoke.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Hiroshi told her with concern in his voice. “The Avatar is the most dangerous one of them all!”

And I’ve already bested her in a fight, Asami thought to herself. She made eye contact with Nimong just over her father’s shoulder, and she could tell the woman was thinking the same thing. But instead of revealing that she had fought the Avatar, Asami put a comforting hand on her father’s shoulder.

“Let me do this, dad,” she assured him, excited at the prospect of a new project. “I know who she hangs out with, a pair of brothers. Nimong and I are the only ones close enough to her age, and she's already busy training recruits.”

The officers in the room were silent as they thought over her proposal. Asami sighed and shook her head.

“It’s not like we can have someone sit on the council meetings themselves,” she said, lowering her voice. “I can make her trust me. We’ll be one step ahead of every move she and that task force makes.”

“She has gone above and beyond on each of the missions she’s been on,” Nimong said, voicing her faith in Asami, who gave her a grateful smile.

“She has,” Amon agreed, a pensive tone to his voice. “I believe this would be a great job for Ms. Sato.”

Asami nodded her head and took a seat, containing her excitement under a thin layer of calm. Her father still looked upset, but even he wasn’t going to come right out and disagree with Amon. And even if he had more to say, his commentary would have fallen on deaf ears. She was far too busy coming up with plans in her head. 

She couldn’t just approach the Avatar and extend her friendship; no doubt she would be on edge after what she had witnessed at the rally. She probably looked at each nonbender with a far more weary eye than usual. Her best bet was one of the brothers, and that would be a far easier starting point. Asami was well aware of the effect she had on people, and that effect had been weaponized on multiple occasions. All she needed was to get one of them alone for a bit and with a quick hair flip or two, and they would be in her pocket. From then, she could turn on the charm, work her way into their hearts, and they would be none the wiser. She just had to figure out which one.

Towards the end of the meeting, her father sent her to the workshop across town to get plans for the latest invention she’d been working on, an electric glove with its own power source. A quick run to the workshop required a quick vehicle, and the moped she designed was far faster than a satomobile, not that she would ever tell her father that. He wouldn’t listen to her. He didn’t see her as anything more than that child who got left behind when Yasuko was murdered, the child he had to remember he had when he lost himself in his grief. Whenever she typically tried to bring her inventions or improvements to him, he thought they were child’s play. The only instances in which he ever seemed to take pride in her work was when Amon did first. Because it was Amon that Hiroshi respected, not -

Some idiot ran out into the street. Asami tried to stop her moped in time, but she hit the figure and sent him flying a few feet back. She hopped off her moped and ran over to him.

“Oh no!” she exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you.”

“How could you not see me?” the figure began as she took off her helmet. “I mean I was ju-”

She looked down at him and recognized him just as quickly as she recognized the familiar awestruck look on his face. 

“I was… I-I.. wow,” he coughed. “That was-”

It seemed that the spirits had made the choice of which brother she was going to get close to. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice high as she poured on the charm. “Did I hurt you? I’m such an idiot.”

She helped the firebender to his feet and she could see his bravado facade mask his lost anger. She knew if she didn’t look the way she did, he would still be mad at her.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” he assured her. “My brother hits me harder than that every day in practice.”

Ah, so that’s the type of person he was, Asami realized. She would have to lay on the adoration thick for this guy.

“Wait, I recognize you. You’re Mako, right?” She asked, leaning forward. “You play for the Fire Ferrets!”

“Yeah, that’s me,” he smirked, putting his hands on his hips.

Asami took control of the situation quickly, without allowing him room to deny her anything.

“I am so embarrassed,” she held out her hand towards the firebender. “My name’s Asami. Let me make this up to you somehow. How about I treat you to dinner? Tomorrow night, 8:00, Kwong’s Cuisine.” Satisfied, she turned to walk away. He’d obviously be there.

“Uh, Kwong’s?” he started. “I don’t have any clothes nice enough for a place that classy.”

“I’ll take care of that - all you have to do is show up,” she replied with finality, putting on her helmet. “So, it’s a date?”

His eyes lit up. “Uh...yeah, I guess so. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

She rode off on her moped, but not before giving him a last sultry glance over her shoulder where she knew he was watching. This was far too easy.

When she returned to catch the tail end of the meeting with her plans in a neat stack, she walked in with a grin. Most of the other officers had left, but Zhen, Nimong, Amon, and her father were all still there.

“Ah, there she is,” her father said with a grin, extending a welcoming hand out towards her. “Now let’s show off that genius I passed down, eh?”

She beamed as she handed over her papers. “Speaking of genius, I’ve got a date with one of the brothers the Avatar is close to. She’s as good as ours.”

Asami relished in the shocked expressions on the faces of her superiors. Even Amon’s blue eyes widened behind his otherwise unreadable mask.

“You were gone for a half hour,” Zhen said, disbelief in his voice.

“Above and beyond,” Nimong remarked, shaking her head with a laugh. 

“I don’t know how comfortable I am with you dating one of those,” Hiroshi shook his head, stroking his beard. “Try not to let him get too close to you.”

“Of course,” Asami nodded, if only to appease her father. But she already knew the game she was going to play. Men like that firebender were easy to read and easier to manipulate. She would allow him to think that he was the one in control, the one with the ideas. She would play to his fantasy of dating some clueless fangirl and he would show her off to his friends. Then, she would win the Avatar’s trust. 

The parts of her plan came together easily. When the firebender said he couldn’t afford clothes, it reminded her of capturing his earthbending brother during the raid on the Triple Threats. The kid didn’t seem like the triad type, so they were obviously hard on money. And since they had just won a handful of games, they needed money for the championships. Money that she was all too willing to get her father to give them. Just before their date, she told the server to make sure he used her last name at some point. And when he did, the firebender did exactly what she expected him to, what everyone did when they learned what family she belonged to. 

The timing was providential - one of the members of the Republic Council decided to throw a gala in the Avatar’s honour and obviously had to invite Hiroshi. As the Avatar would need to be in attendance, Asami would bring the firebender as her date. Seeing her with someone she already knew would lower the Avatar’s defenses, and Asami planned to make a good first impression. 

The day after their date, Asami brought the firebender to one of the Sato workshops to meet Hiroshi. She let them go on a tour while she hung behind, needing a break from her role. Being good at acting didn’t mean she wanted to do it constantly. 

“Psst,” a voice called out near where she sat at a desk at the entrance to the workshop. Asami turned to see Zhen approaching her. He looked so different outside of his uniform, but still painfully recognizable with that mustache of his. “How’s your boyfriend?”

Asami scoffed. “How’s yours?”

“Will you ever get tired of that joke?” 

“I don’t think so, no.”

Zhen rolled his eyes and leaned against the desk, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at her. “I’m supposed to tell you that Amon wants to start production on your electrified glove. He needs your ok to do that, though.”

“He needs my permission?”

“It’s your invention, isn’t it?”

Asami nodded. “Yeah, but I didn’t really expect to get credit for it. That doesn’t happen often.”

Zhen’s brows furrowed as he considered her words. He switched his gaze to something deeper into the warehouse. His blue eyes narrowed for a moment and some emotion passed before his them. “Hm. Well, does he have your permission?”

“Of course,” she told him.

He squeezed her shoulder and disappeared from her line of sight. 

She could hear her father and the firebender’s voices approaching them. She was surprised that her father hadn’t gone off and attacked him, verbally or physically, while they were alone. He must not have realized that he was a firebender yet. Asami never did tell him which brother he was.

She got to her feet and brushed out any wrinkles in her outfit, false persona ready to go once more. Her father and the firebender came down the line and met her by the desk.

“What do you think of my little operation here?” Her father asked the firebender, more cordially than Asami expected.

“It’s...very impressive, Mr. Sato,” he replied.

“Please, call me Hiroshi,” her father said in a jovial tone. And then he ruined it by continuing on to say, “So, I understand you’re dirt poor.”

So much for subtly turning the topic to money.

“Uh,” the firebender replied.

“Young man, it is nothing to be ashamed of. I, too, came from humble beginnings. Why, when I was your age, I was a mere shoe-shiner, and all I had to my name was an idea that would become the Sato-mobile after I took my wife’s last name. Now I was fortunate enough to meet someone who believed in me and my work ethic. Her father gave me the money I needed to get my idea off the ground, and I built the entire Future Industries empire from that one selfless loan.” Hiroshi threw his hands out in a large gesture to the rest of the warehouse, as if they hadn’t just taken a walk through it.

“Dad stop bragging,” Asami said. “Just tell Mako the good news.”

“What good news?” the firebender asked.

“Well, my daughter passionately told me all about your hard-earned success in the pro-bending arena, and about your team’s current financial stumbling block,” Hiroshi went over to the firebender’s side and put his arm on his shoulder, further surprising Asami. She supposed she had to get her acting genes from somewhere. “Now I’d hate to see you lose your chance at winning the championship just because you’re short a few yuans. That’s why I’m going to sponsor the Fire Ferrets in the tournament!”

“Are you serious?”

“He’s serious,” Asami confirmed. “My dad’s going to cover your ante for the championship pot!”

“That- that is good news!” 

“There’s just one catch,” Hiroshi told him. “You all have to wear the Future Industries logo on your uniforms.”

“I’ll tattoo it on my chest if you want, sir!” The firebender said excitedly. “Thank you both so much! I promise the Fire Ferrets will make the most of this opportunity.”

\--------------------------

The gala came and went with little other than Asami’s own frustrations. She tried laying the flattery on thick with the Avatar, but it didn’t seem to work. She was shut down almost instantly, and that made her want to try to get in with the Avatar even more. Her date kept trying to dance with her and seemed to want to get to know her, which frustrated her to no end. He was only looking to get in good with her because of her dad, or because he wanted to score, or whatever shady reasons he had to have had. For all her attempts to steer the conversation back towards the Avatar, none of them worked. The ease with which she worked her way into a relationship with the firebender and gained his trust had spoiled her, distracted her from the real challenge.. 

Asami didn’t glean any information from the gala, but her father managed to coax some out of the councilman who had thrown it. His task force was going to raid one of their hideouts. Rather than clean the place out, they let some recruits get captured with the intent of breaking them out of jail the following night. 

But then the Avatar did something that surprised them all and changed their plans.

Asami had been on a date the firebender demanded to take her on when the announcement was made. When she stopped by their new headquarters with the intent of heading home to bed right after, she was surprised to find everyone in an uproar. 

“It’s obviously a trap!” Asami could hear one officer yelling. 

“It sounded impulsive,” another retorted. “You heard the girl, that outburst wasn’t planned at all. Some reporter pushed just the right buttons and she couldn’t take back what she said when she said it.”

“What if it’s not impulsive? What if she was just looking for a time to spring it?”

“Why there? Why at Avatar Aang’s memorial?”

“Obviously she’s trying to make some sort of statement. It could not be clearer that it’s some sort of trap.”

Brows furrowed in confusion, Asami found Zhen in the crowd and made her way over to him. Before she could open her mouth to ask the question, he already had the answer ready for her.

“The Avatar challenged Amon to a one-on-one fight,” he told her, his mouth quirking up in slight amusement. “Questioned his manhood about it, too. He’s definitely going to show up.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Asami asked. 

“He’s not going to go by himself,” Zhen told her. “It probably is a trap.”

The man in question quieted the room and spoke, confirming what Zhen thought.

“I am going to meet with the Avatar,” Amon announced. The room erupted again, and he relished in the chaos for a minute before raising his hands. “I will not go alone. She demanded to be met at midnight, and no doubt will have people watching over her. I and thirty of our best chi-blockers will wait until she is completely alone and make our move.”

Thirty seemed a bit like overkill to Asami, but she hoped she would be a part of that number. Gone were any and all traces of the exhaustion she was feeling earlier, replaced instead by thrill. Amon sent most of them away save for Zhen, Asami, and the others he planned to take with him. Asami’s father was nowhere to be found, and she was glad he couldn’t be there to stop her from going. One day, Amon might grow tired of Hiroshi opposing him sending her on missions and refrain from letting her go, and she couldn’t have that. Not when her new project was taking up so much brainspace.

Midnight approached faster than Asami expected. Amon spread them out across town with instructions to approach the docks after midnight, but not to get too close until they were completely empty. Asami could see a figure in the distance walking around the island, stretching and pacing back and forth. It took an hour for the councilman who threw the gala to leave the docks, and another for the previous Avatar’s son to leave. The Avatar had stopped moving around and was just out of sight.

Once the coast was clear, several boats Amon had commissioned moved to the docks. From the angle they approached, the Avatar wouldn’t be able to see them. As high up as the memorial was, she likely wouldn’t be able to hear them once they got close enough, either. 

Asami watched as the first boats reached the island, then practically ran ashore once her boat arrived. The building was obviously only meant to be entered from the front, so there was no door or staircase from the back. Slowly and carefully, they scaled the back wall, climbing on windows and securing purchase on footholds, hauling each other up. Miraculously, they all made it to the empty and darkened main hall of the memorial building. Asami was thankful for their night vision goggles, because there was no other way for them to see that didn’t also alert the Avatar to their presence before they were ready.

They stood in silence, waiting until it was time to make their move.

Before too long, Asami heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching. She watched Zhen slowly take out a bola with a lead attached to it, careful to not let it make a sound. 

The Avatar walked into their line of sight, illuminated by the moonlight. 

Zhen took his shot and dragged her into the darkness.

The Avatar sprung to her feet with a blaze of fire that helped her see, but while the fire went out the Equalists began to close in on her. She threw two fists of fire, and someone on either side of her threw their bolas to wrap around her arm. They held on tight and pulled her down. Two chi-blockers jumped at her, but she kept them away with her earthbending. Asami and another chi-blocker on the other side of her had the same idea; they lunged forward and rapidly hit their fists up the Avatar’s sides, effectively hitting her energy points.

Exhausted and tamed, the Avatar fell to ground and couldn’t prop herself up. So Asami and another one of the chi-blockers did the job for her. They grabbed her arms and forced her to her knees as Amon approached.

“I received your invitation, young Avatar,” he said, reaching for her. She turned her head away, and Amon reached down to make her look at him. 

“Our showdown, while inevitable, is premature,” Amon said. Asami felt her brows furrow in confusion and almost dropped the Avatar’s arm. “Although it would be the simplest thing for me to take away your bending right now, I won’t. You’d only become a martyr. Benders of every nation would rally behind your untimely demise. But I assure you, I have a plan and I’m saving you for last. Then you’ll get your duel and I will destroy you.” 

He punctuated his statement with a quick jab to the Avatar’s collarbone. Asami and the other chi-blocker released her, and she fell unconscious. 

It seemed far too easy. First she bested the Avatar in hand-to-hand combat, and here she was again laying helplessly at her feet. Asami could finish the job now, if she had the mind to. Shouldn’t the world’s strongest bender be harder to humiliate? Because it was nothing short of embarrassing if this was the best the bending world had to offer. She couldn’t help but feel disappointment when they made their way back to the docks, no daring escape necessary. What was Amon planning? Why was the problem with making the Avatar a martyr? Why not hit benders where it hurt them the most and take their hero away from them? Wasn’t the whole point of the Equalists to take back power, to dole out as much hurt as benders had caused over the centuries? 

She knew she would never get the answers she wanted and almost resented losing sleep over this. She couldn’t question Amon, and she doubted Zhen had all the answers she wanted. 

But she supposed the mission wasn’t a total failure. This experiment had given Asami vital information for her latest project. Catching her off guard the day before the rally wasn’t a fluke, or a mistake.

The Avatar wasn’t untouchable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know our girl thinks some rude stuff during this chapter, but remember that we're doing an enemies to lovers thing. Forgive me for the slow burn, but she's going to be an antagonist for quite a while. 
> 
> I'm hoping to update once a week or once every two weeks. I'll have updates at least twice a month barring anything crazy going on in my life.


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